So, I did my first pork picnic and I gotta say, I must be a butt man!

peeps

peeps

somebody shut me the fark up.
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Albertsons in DFW had pork picnics on sale for $0.89/lb this past week so I picked up a couple and cooked one up on Sunday. I have eaten on it a few times since then and I gotta say, I prefer butts.

I'll give it another shot with the one in my freezer, but if it turns out similar to this one with same rub/method as I use on butts, I'll be sticking with butts from now on.

It seems that this picnic had a tendency to dry out more than butts after shredding and adding back de-fatted drippings and just seems to have a flavor to the meat that isn't as preferable as the butt.

So, which do you folks prefer?
 
i like butts for pulled pork due to bark production over the larger surface area. i will use picnics more for spanish style preperations because i like the crispy skin and i think it is more authentic for that style of cooking.
 
A$$ man..... Excuse me, I meant Butt man.
 
Every damn Albertsons near me is now a Minyards! So I missed out on that deal. No big loss though really because I also prefer butts. I think they turn out more juicy and are less prone to dry out, but the primary reason why I prefer butts is because the bone is missing.

Since there is no bone, the mass of the meat is less and overall height is lower. This is important to me because of the spacing between my vertical smoker racks. When I do picnics, they puff up a little after cooking and they scrape when I'm pulling the rack out...which I don't care for.

Also, I'd rather just get to shredding right away once I'm ready to eat. Don't want to mess with the bone and I also don't have to worry about the bone poking through the foil it's wrapped in.
 
I've always preferred butts, although, never given picnics a lot of trials.
 
Picnic is pretty cool, but I usually only buy it on sale. Chop-chunk-grind and shred to get multiple textures. Makes fantastic green chile stew, chile verde burritos, tacos, stacked enchiladas etc. Simmer with a home made BBQ sauce or Stubbs Sweet Heat onions, make a slaw and stuff it in a garlic butter toasted Kings Hawaiian roll. Also a small smoked picnic in a large crock makes great beans
Beer
 
Butts !! Smoked bone in, that bone makes for great beans, just chuck it in the freezer till you feel like makin a pot. :thumb:
 
I prefer butts as well, but once in a while a picnic cooked direct - like a UDS without the diffuser - can be a beautiful thang. You get that great cracklin skin. I'll buy it when it's on sale - every time.
 
Should I have left the skin on? I trimmed it off...
 
peeps said:
Should I have left the skin on? I trimmed it off...
Click to expand...

I'm in the skin on camp. With out it your basically doing a butt with less fat. The 2 cuts have different texture, mixing them gives you that fabulous taste in line with whole hog. Picnics have a sweeter meter taste and butts have a juicy, fatty flavor. I think I'm gonna start doing both and mixing or maybe source a few whole shoulders if I can.

The joys of skin on bbq pig:

Picnic



Fresh ham



A poll on the matter here

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=194838
 
I like skin on with skin side toward the fire.

photo-673.jpg
 
I prefer the butt too.

Although, as Smoke Ninja has said, mixing the two is great too. When I do a large cook for a group of 20+, I always add a picnic or two (trying to keep the ratio 50:50 or better towards the butt side of things). I find that when I do a big cook it can tend to be a bit fatty tasting for some and the texture of the picnic is a nice addition.
 
16Adams said:
Picnic is pretty cool, but I usually only buy it on sale. Chop-chunk-grind and shred to get multiple textures. Makes fantastic green chile stew, chile verde burritos, tacos, stacked enchiladas etc. Simmer with a home made BBQ sauce or Stubbs Sweet Heat onions, make a slaw and stuff it in a garlic butter toasted Kings Hawaiian roll. Also a small smoked picnic in a large crock makes great beans
Beer
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^^^
Strongly suggest you read this thru several times then decide how to proceed with the second one.....


I tend to think a little like ham for those pieces by themselves....butter beans or even green beans & ham base, garlic / onion bits, small amount a br. sugar....and beer....you could add beer.....

....or the Mexicali route......green chile stew sounds about right !!!!
 
If I had to choose one or the other, I prefer butts.

However I do like picnics if the price is right. I go skin on with skin towards the fire.

Also if you cook a picnic, cook a butt also and do a rough chop of the butt and picnic together. It has such a great taste that you can't get cooking either a butt or a picnic. If you do this, you will see why some people prefer to do whole pork shoulders vs butts or picnics.
 
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